12 Months of Literary Activities: Little House on the Prairie

This book. Right, y’all? The Little House series is a homeschooler’s dream. There’s no better look at the States’ pioneer days and it’s even better that they’re written for kids.

If you’re stressing about just how to use literature to teach all the things, Little House is the place to start. It practically hands you lessons on a pewter platter. So many of the things we teach are included. History. Character. Sociology. Cooking.

Cooking, my friends. One of the funnest ways ever to teach math.

Little House on the Prairie Activities

History

One of the tension-building parts of this book is the relations the Ingalls have with the natives. Not only for history, but for tolerance lessons, explore early relations between settlers and natives with your kids. Learn about the Trail of Tears and the push to reservations. Help them understand why the natives were suspicious and wary of settlers.

Geography

The Ingalls do a lot of traveling in this book. Print out a map of the U.S. and trace their path through the Midwest.

Cooking

Um, pick a meal, any meal. Corncakes and drumsticks, anyone? Preparing a meal from scratch like Ma did is a great way to learn fractions and measures and weights. Plus, you get a solid block of time for just having fun with your littles and yummy food at the end. What’s not to love? Remind your kids that the Ingalls couldn’t just run to the store and buy bread. As recently as 100 years ago, that wasn’t really a thing.

Which could start a whole new history lesson about the Industrial Revolution and how food processing has changed in the last century.

If you’re a rabbit trail kinda gal like me.

Art

What else would you do besides make a log cabin? The cool thing about this project is that it doesn’t have to be done all in one day, but it can be. You can build parts as you read about them or build it all at once. And just like Black Beauty’s Felt Meadow, this one can hang around and be played with later.

Looking for even more book fun? Check out:

KT Brison is a former children’s librarian and educator who gave all that up for the most important job in her life—homeschooling her boys.Though she loves the outdoors and rambling around her farm, she can usually be found with her nose in a book. Any book. As long as it has words.

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About KT Brison

KT Brison is a former children’s librarian and educator who gave all that up for the most important job in her life—homeschooling her boys. Though she loves the outdoors and rambling around her farm, she can usually be found with her nose in a book. Any book. As long as it has words.

I love these books and I can’t wait to share these lessons with my sons. As we have a set of Lincon Logs that are never uses so we can use them to design a cabin with. Thank you for creating this lesson plan for us.Glenda Cates recently posted…Kid Friendly Search Sites

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